Can you describe or give us some information about the shows you use Logelloop for?
Until now, I have used Logelloop for theater performances (radio fiction genre) for the company Teatr Piba (shows Les Échelles de Nuages and Donvor). Logelloop is used to record and process in real time sound effects made by actors on stage, and thus allows me to quickly create realistic or dreamlike soundscapes. The software plays an important role in these forms of shows where the audience is shown the making of the sound, this making being an integral part of the show.
I also used it to create the soundtrack for an animated short film.
In the case of the animated short film, was Logelloop used for sound design ? What was the process you used?
Yes, Logelloop was used for sound design. The process was to start with pre-recorded sounds and guitar sounds. The objective was to create the soundscape of a nightmare, in which a drowning takes place. So I used the File players modules to play whale sounds which I then processed with reverbs, delays and speed plays. The guitar was used to bring in some more musical touches, a little leitmotif to go with the sound design.
I recorded various atmospheres, which I then exported via the output recorder. The whole thing was then mixed on Reaper.
What made you choose Logelloop for this work?
I discovered Logelloop via Krismenn who happens to be an actor in the show Donvor. It was during one of Donvor’s first residencies in 2017 that he gave me a quick demonstration. I had been using Ableton Live for my stage management until then and in the context of Donvor I had started to use it in a live looping approach… not very successful. Logelloop appeared to be the software solution for this show, and I decided to learn it through the training courses offered by Le Logelloù.
Have you used or do you use other computer tools or hardware that are crucial for the management of these shows?
In Les Échelles de Nuages I use Logelloop, and the musician of the show (Guillaume Le Guern) plays on a Looper Boss RC300, the creation time was too limited and my mastery of Logelloop too weak to do everything in Logelloop.
Whereas in Donvor I do the first part of the show on Ableton and then switch to Logelloop. The reason for this is that the first part of the show is based on pre-recorded sounds that I had already worked a lot in Live, which I was satisfied with, so I didn’t switch everything to Logelloop. The second part of the show relies exclusively on the live looping of sound effects and music played on stage.
If I had to do it again today, I think I would do everything on Logelloop.
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Do you use the loop in these shows?
Yes, a lot. Either in a musical approach like drone, or in the construction of a soundscape with a looper for each shot.
I’m using more and more modular loopers as inserts and the Korpus module, it allows me to record sounds on the fly easily, to pause them, to replay them easily and to make them denser by playing with the stacking of sounds and the playback speeds.
Why do you use Logelloop in general?
I use Logelloop for sound creation and in particular for a lot of research in my free time. I explore the possibilities of creating complex sound material from simple elements, whether it’s with my voice, my guitar, or sounds I’ve recorded in the city or in nature. The use of loopers and the possibility of playing with the sound in real time that Logelloop offers makes it a superb research tool.
Why do you use Logelloop in these projects? Could other software have done the job? What made you choose Logelloop?
Other software could have done the job, but they would not have given me all the possibilities Logelloop offers. I gain in fluidity and the ability to make proposals on the fly.
Did Logelloop bring anything unexpected?
It often brings unexpected things, and that’s what I love! Being too young to have known the Revox and other tape devices, I like Logelloop a lot, because it is for me the descendant of these devices. By keeping an approach of sound processing by its speed, its pitch, its reading direction, it allows doing sound research like the Beatles could do on tape recorders. Logelloop is not, like many of the current software programs, in the race for plug-ins and sound typified by amp emulations and so on, it remains on a very simple approach, but nevertheless not simplistic.
Do you consider Logelloop to be a software suitable for show management?
Absolutely. Thanks to its preset arranger, for example, which allows you to set up a line and also thanks to the File Player and Playlist inserts which allow you to play pre-recorded sequences easily.
The macros are also a huge advantage over other software. Although writing them can be time-consuming and difficult to set up in the context of a creation, they allow you to write a complex score with a remarkable sequence of actions once you have established the conduct choices.
What seems to be missing for this type of application?
There is one thing I am missing at the moment. It is the ability to see the waveform of the files inserted in the Files Players and the ability to place the playback head at a specific point with the mouse. This visual aid is often very useful to me when importing sound material from my portable recorder. It would save me from having to go through another DAW to log beforehand.
Would you like to add anything?
A big thank you to Philippe, Christophe and the whole Logelloù team. You really listen and care about the problems that users encounter in the field. As a result, the software quickly adapts to our needs. Besides the pure software aspect, Logelloop is also a community of people who create and research, it’s inspiring.
Thanks a lot, Gwenole !
Logelloop team